


The Legacies We Leave Behind

by Dawn1000



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Angst, Blood, Drama & Romance, Family Dynamics, LGBTQ Themes, Medieval, Multi, Politics, Three Sentences, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24162262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn1000/pseuds/Dawn1000
Summary: Vival was not born to be a ruler; she was a conqueror through and through. She was not designed to sit on a throne, to hear out complaints, to dispense justice; she lived to have an army at her back and a weapon in her hand and a command at the tip of her tongue.She was vain and selfish and proud, but also charismatic and wickedly intelligent, possessing a comely face and a silver tongue, the center of every party, the life's blood of her empire.She was fire and ice, freezing and burning, destroying everything in her wake for the sake of her legacy.Her ambition, her determination, her desperation to become immortal in the eyes of both gods and men brought her to soaring heights as well as her downfall.And this is her story, told through her own eyes and those of others in three sentence snippets.
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. 11 BUV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ: A/N: Hello, readers. As you read TLWLB, you will notice that every chapter title is a time frame. The UV stands for an integral moment in the world of TLWLB. Think of BUV and AUV like BBY (Before Battle of Yavin) and ABY (After Battle of Yavin) in Star Wars. These dates will help you to keep track of the times in which things took place. If you're confused about the random shifts in age of the characters, just check the dates.

_**Read the notes if you haven't yet. Seriously. You'll be confused throughout the entire book if you don't.**_

Vival and Katerina wed in secret by a little temple deep in the forest covered with ivy and vines, insects swarming around, sweat beading down their foreheads. It is not a ceremony worthy of their station and they do not love one another- their union is one of mutual gain, not mutual fondness, after all, but their shared nephew-and-heir giggles in the distance and this marriage will give Vival the additional manpower and wealth she so desperately desires. As their lips brush and their fingers twine together, she feels all the little sparks of her ambitions fan into flames; the corners of her mouth curl up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Did I cheat by using a semi-colon? Yes, yes I did.


	2. 30 BUV

Vival is born at the roaring height of summer when the sun is at its fiercest and rain has not come in many weeks, leaving the ground cracked and arid, the air prickled with tension. Fires blaze to life wildly on the day she comes into the world, fierce and merciless. Upon her presentation to the gods, her parents take ash and smear it across her brow, proclaiming proudly that she is one of Their chosen and that the infernos which have ravaged Vas will be the same ones to rage in her heart.


	3. 19 BUV

They meet for the first time when Vival is eleven and Katerina is twelve. Their fathers have joined to discuss a betrothal between their younger siblings. Vival thinks the girl before her is beautiful, with emeralds for eyes and sunshine in her hair and pale skin tinged pink against the biting cold of winter, but she is so dreadfully _boring as well_ and so that is that, and they speak no more for the remaining time unless decorum requires it.


	4. 19 BUV

They meet for the first time when Katerina is twelve and Vival is eleven. Their fathers have joined to discuss a betrothal between their younger siblings. Katerina thinks that Vival could actually be good company, with her ebony skin and onyx eyes and mess of curly, ink black hair matched with her wild grin, _but she is so loud and obnoxious_ and Katerina has no patience for children, so she keeps her distance, choosing to bury the sound of the other girl's incessant chatter with her books.


	5. 26 BUV

Vival is four when Mother sings the Ballad of Jaeson the Lion, recites poems of his exploits, tells her he was Chosen by the gods, just as she is. She puffs out her chest and Mother laughs and weaves flowers through her hair, promises that she, too, is destined for greatness. In that moment, the one which will define the rest of her life, Vival closes her eyes and pictures the floral crown atop head as one of silver and rubies.


	6. 23 BUV

Father lets Vival spar for the first time when she is seven years old. They walk out to the sandy training yards and take their wooden blades and Father beats her bloody, swift and merciless, eyes hard, mouth drawn into a thin line.

As she groans weakly from her place on the ground, every part of her body aching, he tells her none of her true opponents will ever go easy on her, and if she wants to learn how to win the _real_ battles, she had better get up and ready herself again.


	7. 22 BUV

At first, Vival hates Andronikas, even though he is her cousin from her father's side- he thinks himself better than her just because he is two years older, and he struts about like the peacocks from Mother's homeland. Her temper flares one day and she lunges at him, kicking, punching, biting, and they roll around in the dirt until their fathers force them apart. Although Vival knows she is going to get punished for this later, she can't help but smile through bloodied teeth as her coz shrinks back and cradles what remains of his right earlobe.


	8. 22 BUV

In the privacy of his own chambers and away from his son, Grae howls with laughter. Andronikas has been overdue for a beating for a good long while and the fact he got it from his baby cousin only makes it richer. Perhaps this experience will even shake the cobwebs from his mind and get him acting like a proper heir, Grae thinks cheerily as he pours himself a cup of ale.


	9. 3 AUV

Vival worries over her nephew's temperament- he cannot afford to be like her, too quick to anger, too quick to come to blows, too passionate in all things, because he will succeed her one day and if he is to keep the kingdom she has built, he must act the ruler, not the conqueror. She tells Nik such and her coz barks out a laugh, tilts his head sideways to give her a good look at the scar she gave him all those years ago, and tells her she really has no place to judge when it comes things like this. She glares at him sullenly for that, lips pulled downwards, brows furrowed, and Nik laughs harder because they both know she cannot retort wittily- he is right, after all.


	10. 22 BUV

Mother pulls Vival aside after the Andronikas incident, hazel eyes stern, face a mask of stone. She tells her, "Your father has taught you how to make others fear you, but I will teach you how to make others love you. Only the truly great command both terror _and_ adoration from their people, and you shall be no different."


	11. 29 BUV

Alexandros comes into the world kicking and screaming like his sister before him. There are no infernos upon his birth, no floods, no earthquakes, but the Chief and his wife celebrate still over the arrival of his spare.

"Our little lordling will be his sister's right hand," they crow, "He will be at her side as she ascends to greatness, with her every step of the way."


	12. 15 BUV

Vival is recognized as a woman grown upon her fifteenth birthday. Father gifts her twin scimitars, one with a hilt black on red, the other with a hilt red on black, and Alexandros is beside himself with envy. She names the first Harbor and the second Storm and says, "I shall use the one to defend me and mine and the second to strike down all those who should stand in my way."


	13. 14 BUV

The Festival happens once every nine years. The people of Vas participate in nine days of drinking, whoring, feasting, and fighting in honor of the gods. It is here where Vival has her first drink of straight- brandy, it is here where she kills her first man, it is here where she meets _her-_ the lady with fire for hair who kisses her hard and takes her under the cold light of half a million stars and makes her a woman in truth as well as in name.


	14. 19 BUV

Alexandros is ten when he picks up his blade for the first time. Father beats him, just as Vival warned he did her, and he tries to take it as best he can, but he is not his sister and he cannot get back up. Blood streams across the sands and he wilts at the evident disappointment in Father's eyes as he realizes _\- failure, failure-_ there is not any of the steel of his daughter in his son.


	15. 12 BUV

Alexandros knows his parents love him despite their disappointment, and he thinks Vival cares for him in her own roundabout way. That doesn't mean he doesn't cherish Anthisa, his sweet betrothed, for looking at him not as a spare or a future right hand or the second-rate copy, but as _Al_ \- as a _person_. He awaits their wedding with bated breath but when it finally arrives, his bride whispers in his ear a name that is not his as she drifts off to sleep, and never has he hated anyone in his entire life so much as he does his sister in that moment.


End file.
